IBPS PO previous year question paper guide for prelims and mains

Quick recap of the paper you are practising for

Before you open any old paper, be clear about the current format, because IBPS changed it in recent cycles:

• Prelims: English 30 questions for 30 marks, quant 35 questions for 30 marks, reasoning 35 questions for 40 marks, each with a 20 minute window.
• Mains: three sections (reasoning, the awareness paper and data analysis) are worth 60 marks apiece and English only 20, for 200 marks in 160 minutes. A 30 minute descriptive test follows.

Papers from 2023 and 2024 used the older split, with computer aptitude inside the reasoning section and a letter plus essay descriptive test. The question styles are still useful, but time yourself with the current section limits. The full table is on our IBPS PO syllabus page.

Prelims: what an IBPS PO previous year question paper shows

Look across recent prelims shifts and the same shape keeps showing up. This also answers most IBPS PO pre previous year paper questions:

• Reasoning: puzzles and seating sets take up the largest share, often three or four sets of five questions, with inequality, syllogism and blood relations filling the rest.
• Quant: two data interpretation sets, a quadratic equation or number series block, and several short arithmetic questions.
• English: a single comprehension passage, a cloze test, and short blocks of error spotting, fillers or para jumbles.

The level is usually easy to moderate, so the prelims tests speed and accuracy more than depth. Good scorers pick the easy sets first and skip lengthy ones.

What past mains papers reveal

Candidate reports from the latest mains describe a reasoning section built around several five question puzzles, machine input and output and a large block of critical reasoning. The data analysis section mixed pie chart, table and caselet sets with arithmetic questions and data sufficiency. English leaned on sentence rearrangement, reading comprehension and a cloze passage.

Awareness questions in IBPS PO mains previous year papers come mostly from banking news, RBI decisions, payment systems and government schemes of the preceding months. The descriptive part has asked for an essay on an everyday economic or social theme and answers to questions on a comparison passage.

How to practise with old papers, stage by stage

1. Weeks one to three: solve each section of a past prelims paper on its own with a strict 20 minute timer. Mark every question you could have solved but skipped.
2. Weeks four to six: take full prelims papers twice a week and analyse them for longer than you took to write them.
3. Mains phase: attempt a full IBPS PO mains previous year question paper in one sitting, including the 30 minute typed essay and comprehension.
4. Final fortnight: redo the sets you got wrong, and read the awareness questions only for the kind of facts asked, since the news itself will have changed.

Practice questions in the IBPS PO style

These are original questions written for practice, not taken from any paper.

1. Inequality: Given P > Q = R, R ≥ S, and S < T, which conclusion is definitely true? (a) P > S (b) Q > T (c) T > R (d) S = Q. Answer: (a), because P > R and R ≥ S.
2. Arithmetic: A sum earns ₹1,260 as simple interest in 3 years at 7 percent a year. What is the sum? Answer: ₹6,000.
3. Data interpretation idea: Branch A opened 240 accounts and Branch B opened 25 percent more. How many accounts did the two branches open together? Answer: 540.
4. Error spotting: Find the error: "Neither the manager nor the clerks was present at the meeting." Answer: "was" should be "were", since the verb agrees with the nearer subject, clerks.
5. Banking awareness: Which body within the Reserve Bank of India decides the policy repo rate? Answer: the Monetary Policy Committee.

Where to find genuine IBPS PO papers

IBPS does not usually put complete question papers on its website after the exam. What it does publish on ibps.in is still useful:

• The notification, with the official section list and marks.
• Information handouts for each stage, which describe the test and show sample question types.
• Your personal score card after each stage, so you can match your practice scores with real marks.

Memory based papers compiled by candidates are widely shared. They can help with question style, but numbers and wording may not match the real paper, so do not trust their answer keys blindly.

Turning paper practice into a score target

Old papers matter most when you score them against real cut offs. Look up recent numbers in our IBPS PO cut off guide and set a mock target a little above the highest one for your category. Keep a simple log of each paper: score per section, time taken and the three biggest mistakes. After ten papers, the log tells you exactly which topics to revise.

If you are also sitting for clerk or SBI exams, the same reasoning and data skills carry over. See the SBI PO previous papers page for that exam's format.